Commentary on Jeremiah Volume 1 John Calvin
COMMENTARY ON JEREMIAH
laid waste, most of them had been led into exile, but a few had sought hiding --- places for a time: and he says that they were like gleanings: ``though, ``he says, ``there be a few grapes, yet these shall follow.'' In short, the Prophet sets before the Jews that vengeance of God, which was known already to them as much as to the Israelites, the ten tribes: and yet he shews that God's vengeance was not completed, for there were still a few remaining, a gleaning: ``What then shall come of you? What indeed! ye have seen that your brethren have been plundered, ye have seen that they and their children have been slain; ye have seen that all kinds of cruelty have been exercised towards them; and yet after the name of Israel has been obliterated, and their country now deserted, has become a waste, God will still punish the remnant, and ye shall see that his judgment will shortly overtake them; and what do ye, wretched beings, yet look for? and how great is your torpidity, which never comes to an end? why do you not seek to be reconciled to God, when such an opportunity is offered to you?''
We now then apprehend the Prophet's object. And then he says, Return thy hand as a vintager to the baskets; that is, ``Behold the vintagers, they stimulate one another; so that there is no end of gleaning, as they ever return to their baskets, until they gather everything, until there remains not a grape on the vine.'' 170
PRAYER
Grant, Almighty God, that since thou kindly invitest us to repentance, and urgest us also by setting before us examples of thy wrath, --- O grant, that we may not continue perversely disobedient, but render ourselves tractable and submissive to thee, so that we may not meet with that dreadful severity which thou didst threaten to thine ancient people, but anticipate the wrath which thou didst formerly denounce on them; and may we thus with a pious heart return to thee, that we may find by experience that thou art ever a propitious Father to sinners, whenever with a sincere heart and without dissimulation they return to thee, through Christ Jesus our Lord.
LECTURE TWENTY-FOURTH
Jeremiah 6:10
10. To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.
10. Ad quem loquar? et quem contestabor ut audiant? Ecce incircumcisa auris
170Blayney's version is, — Turn again thine hand, like a grape-gatherer, unto the baskets. "That is, Take thou again into thine hand, and begin the work of gathering or gleaning anew." He takes it as God's address to the Chaldeans, in which they are exhorted repeatedly to return and to carry away captives the remaining inhabitants. But this does not comport with the simile of the vintager returning the hand to the baskets. It seems to be a command to put in safe custody those whom they took or gleaned, as a vintager, who, when he plucks a grape or a cluster, puts it safely in a basket to be carried away. The "hand" is put here for what the hand holds-the grapes or clusters. It is then the same as though he had said, "Lay up, as a vintager, what you glean, in baskets." The Jews were gathered, not to be destroyed, but to be carried away into captivity. This seems to have been the intimation here, — Return thine hand, like a vintager, unto the baskets. That is, Throw not away what you gather, but let the hand, that is stretched forth to reach the grapes, bring back what it gleans into the baskets. The Vulgate is, "Turn (converte) thine hand as a vintager to his basket." The Septuagint. "Turn ye ({ἐπιστρέψατε}) as a vintager to his basket.'' The Syriac is the same with the Vulgate, except that it has ``gleaning'' instead of ``basket.'' The Arabic corresponds with the Septuagint. The Targum has an unintelligible paraphrase. --- Ed
JOHN CALVIN
eorum, et non poterunt attendere; ecce verbum Jehovae fuit illis opprobrio? non acquieverunt in eo (hoc est, non oblectati sunt; {}ףפחsignificat capere oblectationem, Ils n'y ont prins nul plaisir.)
The Prophet here shews there was no reason for him to labor any longer in trying to reform the people, for he spoke to the deaf. He had said before, according to our lecture yesterday, that God was still ready to be reconciled to the Jews, if they repented; but now, referring to himself, he says that his words were wholly lost.
Hence he asks a question as respecting a thing strange or unexpected. To whom, he says, shall I speak? and to whom shall I protest? He had indeed, as we found yesterday, exhorted the people to repent: but there is nothing inconsistent in all this; for he wished, as far as he could, to secure, the safety of the people. Even God had commanded this; and it was his will, as it was yesterday stated, that a testimony should be borne, that it was not his fault, according to what had been taught, that he was not reconciled to the people.
We now then see that the whole passage harmonizes; for Jeremiah performed his office in trying to find out whether the people were healable; but when he saw that such were their obstinacy that it allowed of no remedy, he exclaims as one astonished, To whom shall I speak? and to whom shall I protest? The meaning is, that the people were so given up to impiety, that the prophets spent their labor in vain while endeavoring to reform them. And the first clause he confirms by another, To whom shall I protest? He intimates that they had despised not only what had been plainly taught them, but also protestations, which possess much greater power. He means that their wickedness could be cured by no remedies, that they had not only rejected plain truth and serious warnings, but had also perversely resisted solemn protestations.
That they may hear, he says. He intimates, that though he had faithfully performed his office, yet his labor was without any fruit, for all the Jews were deaf.
Hence he adds, Behold, uncircumcised is their ear This metaphor is common in the prophets. The uncircumcised ear is that which rejects all true doctrine. An uncircumcised heart is that which is perverse and rebellious. But we ought to understand the reason of this: as circumcision was an evidence of obedience, so the Scripture calls those uncircumcised who are unteachable, who cast away every fear of God and all sense of religion, and follow their own lusts and desires. But to be thus called was greatly disliked by the Jews; for circumcision gave them no common ground of confidence, since it was the symbol and pledge of adoption, and since they knew that they were thereby separated from other nations so as to be called God's holy people.
But the Prophet divested them of this vain conceit by calling them uncircumcised in heart and ears, for they had dealt perfidiously with God when they promised to be obedient to his will.
The external sign was of itself nothing, when the end was disregarded. It was God's will to consecrate his ancient people to himself by circumcision: but when they became satisfied with the visible sign only, there was no longer the reality, and God's covenant was profaned. It is the same at this day with respect to baptism; they who wish to be deemed Christians, boast of it, while at the same time they shew no
COMMENTARY ON JEREMIAH
fear of God, and while their whole life obliterates the true character of baptism. It is hence evident, that they are sacrilegious, for they pollute what is holy. And for this reason Paul calls the letter [the outward rite] of circumcision, a sign without the reality. (Romans 2:27.) So at this day baptism may be called the letter in all the profane, who have no regard to its design: for God receives us into his Church on the condition that we are the members of Christ, and that being ruled by his Spirit we renounce the lusts of our flesh. But when we seek under the cloak of baptism to associate God with the Devil, it is a most detestable sacrilege. Such was the stupid presumption of the Jews. This was the reason why the prophets so often charged them with being uncircumcised in hearts and ears: ``Ye are God's holy people; give a proof of this: ye indeed boast that you have been circumcised; surely, the cutting off of a small pellicle does not satisfy God; shew that your hearts and ears have been circumcised: but uncircumcision remains in your hearts, and it remains in your ears; ye are then heathens.''
We now then see the meaning of the Prophet, and also the reason why Scripture speaks so much of the uncircumcision of the hearts and ears, and it was this, --- to prove the Jews guilty of profaning that sign, which ought to have been a pledge of their adoption, and to have served as a profession of a new life.
It was not to lessen their guilt that Jeremiah said, They could not attend or give ear. If any one objects and asks, ``Ought it to be deemed a crime that they could not attend?'' The Prophet, as I have said, did not extenuate their guilt, but on the contrary shewed that they were so sunk in their vices, that they were not masters of themselves; as the case is with a drunkard, who is not in his right mind; but as he has contracted this vice of intemperance, his going astray or his ignorance is in no way excusable. So also the Prophet says, that the Jews could not attend to the word of the Lord, because they had surrendered themselves up to the Devil, so that they were become his slaves; as Paul says of those who were without the grace of God, that they were sold under sin, (Romans 7:14;) and the Scripture says elsewhere the same.
In short, Jeremiah here teaches us, that such was the habit of sinning contracted by the Jews, that they were no longer free to do what was right; for the Devil led them here and there at his pleasure, as though they were bound in his chains. And thus he sets forth their depravity as hopeless. Even Aristotle, though he is of no authority as to the power of the will, for he holds free-will, (he knew nothing of original sin and of the corruption of nature,) yet allows that those who are otherwise wholly free cannot do what is right, when they become so hardened in their vices, that intemperance, {ἀκράτεια}, rules in them: for intemperance is a tyrant, which so subdues all the feelings and senses of men, that all liberty is destroyed. We now then see what the Prophet had in view: he meant not that the Jews sinned, because they had not the power to resist; but because they had so plunged themselves into the abyss of wickedness, that they had sold themselves as it were to the Devil, who held them fast bound, and furiously drove them along as he pleased.
And this we learn more fully from what follows; for he says, Behold, the word of Jehovah has been to them a reproach; and it has not pleased them, or they have